Placement woes grip IITs; 35-40 per cent students still unplaced at top campuses, say alumni group

New Delhi [India], April 4 : Around 35-40 per cent of students at the top campuses of the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) have not been placed so far, even as the first phase of placement concluded at several campus as per data compiled by the Global IIT Alumni Support Group.
The situation at newer IITs like the Indian Institute of Technology, Indore; Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bhilai is poorer, where the number of unplaced students is far higher.
This was revealed in data on IIT placements shared by the institute's alumnus and founder of Global IIT Alumni Support Group, Dheeraj Singh.
ANI reached out to the directors of IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi via mail and phone, however, there was no response to emails and calls till the filing of this report.
Around 30-40 per cent of IIT students are still unplaced in the top-ranked older IITs and around 50-60 per cent students are still unplaced in the newer IITs, as per the data compiled by alumni group.
Dheeraj Singh has claimed the salaries offered by the recruiting companies have dipped substantially from crore plus packages in phase one to barely Rs 3-4 lakh per annum currently.
"These large numbers of unplaced students are dealing with a high level of stress and anxiety staring at bleak future prospects due to poor job placement scenario in their colleges as reported by 40 per cent of the students in our emotional health survey we recently undertook" he said.
"Furthermore, salaries offered by the recruiting companies have gone down substantially from crore plus packages in the phase one to barely Rs 3-4 lakhs per annum currently and paradoxically at the same time the number of billionaires our country is producing is at an all time high," Singh said.
At Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, which holds the top rank among Indian colleges, 900 students from the renowned institute are still awaiting placement opportunities, Dheeraj said.
At Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, which holds the second position in national rankings, around 900 students are still awaiting job offers out of a total of 2,000 registered candidates. Similarly, at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay), which holds the third position, a substantial 46 per cent of students, accounting for 1,100 individuals, remain unplaced out of 2,400 registered students.
The situation echoes across other premier IITs as well.
At Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur), ranked fourth and fifth nationally, respectively, a significant portion of students are yet to secure placements.
At IIT Kanpur, approximately 500 students are yet to find employment opportunities, while at IIT Kharagpur, a staggering 52 per cent of students, totalling 1,385 individuals, await placement, as per the data provided by Dheeraj.
Even the newer IITs are grappling with high rates of unplaced students. Indian Institute of Technology, Indore; Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bhilai, are witnessing 49 per cent, 41 per cent, and 63 per cent of their students remaining unplaced, respectively.
"This is a very disheartening state of affairs for the top young talents of our country, IITs should help unplaced students in finding a job. This is a serious matter considering large number of IIT student suicides in the recent past. Clearly, our economy is not producing enough jobs for youth and we are heading towards greater unemployment and economic inequality which is a worrisome trend," Dheeraj Singh said.